Ukraine’s state finances will obtain €3.37 million from a French firm implicated in a Nationwide Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Workplace (SAPO) investigation into abuses on the state-owned Ukraina printing home. This marks the primary time within the historical past of Ukraine’s anti-corruption our bodies that compensation might be paid by a international firm.
Supply: NABU
Particulars: The settlement with the corporate was signed by France’s Nationwide Monetary Prosecutor’s Workplace on 8 July and authorised by a Paris court docket on 3 September.
The funds have already been frozen in a particular account and might be transferred shortly, SAPO’s press service confirmed.
The investigation discovered that the printing home bought supplies from the French firm at inflated costs through an Estonian middleman, whereas the previous director of the state firm acquired improper advantages within the type of mental property rights to safety characteristic designs for paperwork.
The provider was the French agency Surys, which offered consumables containing protecting components.
SAPO coordinated efforts to defend Ukraine’s pursuits within the French court docket, working alongside France’s Nationwide Monetary Prosecutor’s Workplace.
The case is linked to fraudulent schemes involving Ukrainian passports, wherein former Minister of Well being Maksym Stepanov – who headed the Ukraina printing home from 2011 to 2016 – is a suspect.
The investigation has been carried out collectively by Ukraine, France and Estonia below the auspices of Eurojust. In whole, eight people have been formally charged.
In December 2024, Ukraine secured a plea settlement with an affiliate of the previous director of the printing home.
"The Excessive Anti-Corruption Courtroom convicted the defendant, who repaid UAH 14.5 million (US$351,000) in damages, donated UAH 2 million (US$45,000) to the Armed Forces, and offered key testimony in opposition to six people – proof that proved decisive in associated French and Estonian proceedings."
In Ukraine, the investigation into the printing home case has been accomplished, and the defence is presently reviewing the case supplies.
Background: In 2023, a large-scale worldwide scheme to embezzle funds from the state-owned Ukraina printing home was uncovered. The fraud came about between 2013 and 2016 in the course of the manufacturing of Ukrainian passports, ID playing cards and driving licences.
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